This invention relates to a device for feeding cigarettes to the wrapping line of a packeting machine.
The known practice is for the cigarettes to enter a packeting machine usually via a hopper which is supplied with the cigarettes in appropriate containers or from a belt conveyor, which conveys them in the form of a continuous layer.
When leaving the hopper the cigarettes are grouped into batches, each of which is made up of a number of cigarettes equal to the number in one finished packet.
A check is then made on the characteristics of the cigarettes of each batch, and those batches which contain even a single faulty cigarette are rejected.
In order to reduce the number of batches of cigarettes ejected and thereby obtain a considerable financial saving, a device has been proposed by the present applicant, Messrs. G. D. S.p.A., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,592,470 which is able to verify the soundness of the cigarettes while these are still in the hopper, and to reject them before they reach the batching station.
In this device the cigarettes are ejected from the hooper by a combination of pneumatic means and mechanical means.
More specifically, when commanded by the means which check the cigarette soundness, a nozzle directs an air blast agains the end of each faulty cigarette.
Under the force of this blast the cigarette begins to emerge from the hopper through an appropriate aperture, so that its opposite end is pierced by a sharp element or needle. This latter, driven with reciprocating movement, withdraws from the hopper to thus complete the removal of the faulty cigarettes.
A device of this type is not however free of problems, which derive both from the pneumatic means and from the mechanical means.
The air blast directed agains the end of the cigarettes tends to expel tobacco particles, which can fall onto the underlying members and hinder correct operation of the machine.
A more serious problem arising in such a device derives from the use of said needles, or sharp elements in general, which can constitute a danger to the operator, particularly if they break.